Mathieu van der Poel: "I'm going to compete in the Mountain Bike World Championships without training"
Mountain Bike
As was announced a few days ago, Mathieu van der Poel will combine both the World Championship road race and the Mountain Bike World Championships. Now though the Dutchman has elaborated further, explaining how he will not have trained off-road prior to the event.
"I'm going to compete in the Mountain Bike World Championships without training. I'll be there anyway, so I'll try without pressure," the Alpecin-Deceuninck star explains in quotes collected by brujulabike.com. Whether or not van der Poel will be able to successfully transfer straight from road to mountain bike remains to be seen but the possibility of a famous double is intriguing.
The last time van der Poel competed on the Mountain Bike was at the Tokyo Olympics. On that fateful day, the Dutchman suffered a fall that gave him a back injury he still suffers with today. "I have to keep working on it," he says in reference to the injury. "Now I'm in the gym two days a week and that helps control the problem. I'm happy with how things are going now."
The ultimate goal for van der Poel is to return to the Olympic Games in 2024 where he hopes to put right what happened in Tokyo by claiming gold in Paris.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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